By Pat Bradley
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-989774.mp3
Montpelier, VT – Beyond Nuclear, the Citizens' Awareness Network, Safe and Green Campaign, the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance and VPIRG are hosting the visit by Germany's equivalent of the head of the US EPA. At the Statehouse in Montpelier, German Environment Agency President Jochen Flasbarth explained that his country has targeted 80 to 100 percent of it's electricity to come from renewable sources by 2050. Flasbarth says they accelerated their timetable to close all its nuclear power plants by 2022 in the wake of Fukishima.
The Heinrich Boll Foundation in Washington D.C., a think tank of the German Green party, promotes transatlantic exchanges towards a low-carbon economy. Climate and Energy Program Director Arne Jungjohann says an issue of trust resonates in both Vermont and Germany regarding nuclear power.
Vermont State Representative Tony Klein is chair of the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee and the Legislature's joint Energy Oversight Committee.
Arne Jungjohann perceives a key problem for moves in the U.S. to renewables is a lack of a cohesive federal energy polices.
Twenty percent of Germany's power currently comes from renewable resources